Ethereum-based Ex Populus sues Elon Musk’s xAI over trademark infringement

Ex Populus, an Ethereum gaming firm, is taking Elon Musk-founded artificial intelligence company xAI to court over trademark infringement.

According to the complaint filed in the Northern District of California last week, the blockchain gaming network alleges that Musk’s xAI has caused “widespread confusion in the marketplace,” damaging Ex Populus’ Xai brand and eroding trust in its platform. 

The lawsuit accuses Musk’s company of not only adopting a near-identical name but also treading into the same digital territory—blockchain and gaming—despite clear warnings and existing trademark protections.

The tension escalated after Ex Populus received correspondence from xAI’s legal team.

Rather than resolving the issue, the letter prompted deeper concern within the gaming company. 

In response, Ex Populus says it had “no choice” but to pursue legal action to protect its intellectual property and the community that depends on its ecosystem. 

The complaint outlines a series of incidents where customers, publications, and even AI chatbots misattributed the Ethereum firm’s platform to Musk’s venture.

Xai vs xAI

According to the complaint, problems began after Musk announced xAI in July 2023.

Just weeks earlier, Ex Populus had rolled out its own Xai network, a blockchain-based gaming infrastructure, under a registered trademark.

The firm insists that by then, its XAI name was already in commercial use and had begun attracting attention across the Ethereum gaming landscape.

But as Musk’s AI project gained visibility, especially after he signalled plans to expand into the gaming sector in late 2024, Ex Populus says the confusion became unmanageable.

The complaint highlighted instances of how traders began to assume the $XAI token belonged to Musk, and AI-driven assistants like Grok started linking Ex Populus’ platforms to Musk’s company. 

Making matters worse, in some cases, influencers and content creators reportedly used Ex Populus’ logo when referring to xAI.

According to the filing, this led to reputational harm, consumer misunderstanding, and significant “negative consumer sentiment” tied to Musk’s public persona. 

The company claims the overlap deprived them of control over the goodwill they had built, with the mistaken affiliation undermining trust in their ecosystem.

Allegations against Musk and xAI

Besides the trademark infringement issue, Ex Populus also accuses xAI’s legal representatives of attempting to strong-arm Ex Populus into giving up its rights. 

According to court documents, Musk’s lawyers threatened to cancel Xai’s trademark registration earlier this month, despite ongoing confusion in the market and the US Patent and Trademark Office suspending several of xAI’s own applications due to the likelihood of confusion.

As such, Ex Populus is asking the court to block Musk’s xAI from using the disputed name in connection with gaming, blockchain, and other overlapping services. 

The lawsuit also calls for the cancellation of all xAI trademark applications that conflict with its existing mark.

“This case isn’t just about Ex Populus or Xai. It speaks to something bigger: the right of smaller innovators to build without having their identity swallowed by tech giants,” Ex Populus wrote on its community forum.

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